Skylights & rooflights in Shirley

A hallway or landing with no outside wall is the dark spot in many a semi or bungalow. Two units tackle it from the roof: a roof window, which gives a view and can open, and a sun tunnel, a tube that carries daylight down through the roof space to a ceiling diffuser.

Which of the two is right depends on the roof space above the room, so the quote sets each one out with the measures that decide it.

Sun tunnels, honestly compared

A sun tunnel suits a house where nothing larger will fit, and it is often the least disruptive way to light a hallway. The opening in the roof is small, the tube runs through the roof space, and the plaster is untouched except for the diffuser in the ceiling. The light is soft and even, and it does not give a view or fresh air.

A roof window brings more light, a view and the chance to ventilate, but it needs a wider opening and a clear route down to the ceiling, so it takes more building work around it. Where both could go, the choice is between a modest, lower-cost fix and a bigger change to the room. Our comparison of a sun tunnel and a skylight lays the two out beside each other, and the page on sun tunnels for a hallway covers that room in particular.

Which way the roof faces

The direction a hipped or gabled roof faces decides which slope gets the sun. A window on the south-facing slope fills a room with warmth and light, and it needs the glass and the blind to match. On the north-facing slope the light is even and cool all day, which suits a study or a bedroom where glare is unwelcome.

In a semi, the front and rear slopes are often the only two choices, so at the survey we note which way each faces and quote the glass for each. A solar control coating limits summer heat on the sunny side, while clear low-emissivity glass keeps a shaded room brighter. Our page on solar control rooflight glass sets out the trade-off.

What the quote sets side by side

For each room we set out at least two suitable windows or rooflights, usually from different makers where the roof allows. Every row of the quote shows the glass and frame, how the window opens, the price and the maker's typical lead time, which makes one option easy to hold against another.

You can pick the cheaper unit, the better-insulated one or the one that looks best from the garden, and we explain what each choice gives and gives up. Our page on roof window makes compared explains how the makers differ.

Permission, checked for your address

In Shirley a planning application would go to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Permitted development often covers a rooflight or roof window, and our rooflight planning guide lists the conditions that apply. Listed building consent covers a rooflight in a listed house regardless of what permitted development says, and a condition imposed when the house was built, or an Article 4 direction, can withdraw the rights from other houses.

Your address gets a look from us ahead of the quote, and the final call belongs to the council. If an application is the right route, we supply the drawings it needs.

Where the window sits in the room

In a bungalow roof a window can be high enough that a handle is out of reach, and an electric opener solves that, with a rain sensor if you want the window to close itself. In a loft bedroom, a window placed low in the slope usually keeps its handle within an arm's length. Where each window would sit against the rafters is marked during the survey, and we talk through the reach, so that the window you choose suits the way you will use the room.

Our 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind every installation, and the unit itself keeps the maker's own warranty. For more on powered units, our page on electric opening rooflights compares the systems.